8(J). Visiting

English

In the UK there was a highly critical inquiry into abuse and conditions in a hospital.95 This highlighted sustained mistreatment and neglect of patients. One of the most important recommendations was simple: allowing for routine extended visiting hours. This has been pointed out in other similar inquiries, highlighting the importance of opening up otherwise closed institutional cultures as a method for reducing coercive and abusive prices. Inviting the public into psychiatric hospitals means that the system usefully opens itself up to external scrutiny: transparency can only be a good thing for clinicians and patients alike.

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95 Robert Francis QC, Report of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry, (London: The Stationery Office, 2013). The report and associated materials can be found outline at: http://www.midstaffspublicinquiry.com (last accessed: 15.06.2014).

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